The painting has been dated using new techniques, suggesting that cave art did not first appear in Europe.
Scientists have discovered what may be the world’s oldest known piece of art, depicting three people gathered around a large red pig, in a cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
The painting is believed to be about 51,200 years old, according to a study published Wednesday.
“This is the oldest evidence we have of a story,” Maxim Aubert, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia and co-author of the new study published in the journal Nature, told AFP.
Obert was part of the team that identified the previous record holder, a warthog photograph thought to be at least 45,500 years old.
The latest find, discovered inside the Reang Karampuang cave in the Maros-Pangkep region of South Sulawesi, is in poor condition.
The painting, measuring 92 cm by 38 cm (36 in by 15 in), is painted in one shade of deep red pigment and depicts three figures surrounding a wild pig. There are other paintings of pigs in the cave.
“The juxtaposition of the statues – the way they are positioned in relation to each other and interact with each other – is clearly intentional and conveys an unmistakable sense of action. Something is happening between these statues; a story is being told. Of course, we don’t know what that story was,” said Griffith University archaeologist Adam Blum, another author of the study.
Oberle speculated that the paintings were probably made by the first groups of humans to pass through Southeast Asia before arriving in Australia around 65,000 years ago.
“It’s probably just a matter of time before we find even older samples,” Obert added.
Previously, it was thought that the first narrative arts originated in Europe.
Chris Stringer, an anthropologist at London’s Natural History Museum, said the dates of the Indonesian cave art were “quite provocative” because they were so much older than those found elsewhere, including in Europe.
Stringer, who was not involved in the study, said the findings by the experienced team seem plausible but needed to be confirmed with further dating.
“In my view, this find supports the idea that representational art first emerged in Africa before 50,000 years ago and that the concept spread with the expansion of humanity,” he told AFP.
“If that is true, there is still little new supporting evidence from other regions, including Africa.”
The researchers determined the minimum age for the Leang Karampuang cave paintings using a new scientific approach, using a laser to date crystals called calcium carbonate that naturally formed on the paintings.
Little is known about the people who created the cave paintings in Sulawesi.
“The discovery of very old cave art in Indonesia highlights the fact that Europe was not the birthplace of cave art as long thought, and suggests that storytelling is much earlier in human history, and in art history in particular, than previously realised,” Blum said.
“The oldest rock art in Sulawesi is not ‘simple,'” Obert added. “It’s quite sophisticated and shows the intellectual capacity of the people at that time.”
